


To My Roommate, With Longing, Surprisingly Rus

by FlyWIthSerenity



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: All the easter eggs, Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), D&D, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Minor Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Oblivious ship, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is uses female pronouns, Swapfell Papyrus (Undertale), Swapfell Sans (Undertale), and they were ROOMMATES, nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23317480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyWIthSerenity/pseuds/FlyWIthSerenity
Summary: Inspired by "When Two Tsunderes Go on A Date, Does the Void Implode?" by ReadWithDetermination, Papyrus and the Nurse (reader insert) end up unexpected roommates after Sans asks his Reader (nicknamed Trouble) to move in with him. Join these two friends on an adventure in learning to live with each other's quirks, learn more about their histories, and fall unknowingly in love.Oh, did I mention there's a twist? Just when Papyrus and his roommate reach domestic bliss with a side of seemingly unrequited feelings, life goes sideways and choices will have to be made.You do not need to read the original series to enjoy this fic but I highly recommend it! There will be obvious spoilers (Sans is dating a human!).
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	1. Method in the Madness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReadWithDetermination](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadWithDetermination/gifts).
  * Inspired by [To My Date, With Hate, Love Sans](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21607558) by [ReadWithDetermination](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadWithDetermination/pseuds/ReadWithDetermination). 



_Early June - 202X - Mt. Ebbot City_

It was up to you. 

Only you had the chance to defeat the great evil. 

Breathing as carefully as possible, you concentrate your will - your determination - for victory, lift your clenched hand, and with a flick of your wrist you fling the contents from your fingers down to the chestnut wood.

_Nat 20!_

“To the Ultimate Snow Drake’s horror, your sword glows a light-consuming black and strikes directly into its heart. With a terrible shrieking scream, the massive scaly body falls backwards - your sword still embedded in the hide - and moves no more.”

With a whoop, you push over a miniature figurine of an icy white dragon with seven heads as Papyrus and your roommate erupt in cheers. Even Sans - the absolutely terrifying dungeon master (DM) - smirked in appreciation before continuing the wrap up of one epic quest.

“With the death of its creator, the deadly magical ever-winter plaguing the land of Snas vanishes in a great clap of thunder. Bird song - which has not been heard in these parts for a century - begins as flowers sprout all around your party. Everywhere you look the land is becoming green and fertile again. When you return to the capital, the streets are thronged with cheering citizens and you are led to the palace in an impromptu parade of honor. Tonight, you - Vivi Gearheart, Papyrus the Asshatted, and Jynx Bardly - will feast and make merry for you never know what tomorrow holds.”

With that forbidding foreshadowing, Sans closed his copy of Dungeons and Dragons (5th Edition) and chuckled at your roommate falling backwards onto the floor of your shared living room with an exaggerated sigh while flopping an arm over her eyes.

“Ugh, can’t you just let us have a victory without predicting future trials.”

“What, Trouble, you can’t take the campaigns I plan anymore?”

You laugh quietly at the pure faux innocence dripping from Sans’ words. The nickname he had bestowed upon your roommate soon after they started dating was fitting in so many ways. After all, he loved to stir up Trouble. It had even spread to the rest of your little group much to the horror of Trouble herself. 

“WHAT?! NO!”

Trouble sat up with a start and glared at the smirking skeleton sitting next to her. Sans had on what the group of you knew only as his challenge face - which your roommate had admitted to finding rather sexy during one fun game of Truth or Dare - and only grew more smug.

“Admit that your devilishly handsome datemate is just too smart for you to handle in this game of strategy fantasy.”

“Oh. Hell. No.”

Eyes sparking in faux anger, Trouble started listing off all the possible ways her character Jynx Bardly could take on the world Sans created and beat his monsters.

Smiling knowingly at the two bickering datemates, you begin to clean up the game pieces and wipe down the laminated grid used for mapping out fight locations. The hour was getting late but no one had wanted to stop the session when they were so close to the end. A bony hand joined yours in scooping up the dice flung everywhere. You looked up to see Papyrus waiting to catch your eye before waggling his brow bones and giving the lovebirds a pointed look right as your roommate exploded.

“Admit it, sugar skull! My bard would blast any of your NPCs.”

With magic crawling up his cheek bones, Sans turned beet red before losing control of his voice for a moment. No matter how long those two had been dating the tsundere skeleton still reacted the same way to your roommate’s pet name for him. 

“FALSE! It takes all three of you to survive my cunning and terrifying traps - if you are lucky!”

Had it really only been a year or so since the two tsunderes’ had finally admitted their feelings after so much effort from the two of you meddlers? Snickering, you smirk at Papyrus and get an answering smirk in return - gold fang flashing - before standing up to carry some of the now-empty bowls for snacks back into the kitchen. 

Walking into the kitchen, you suppress a yawn before setting the bowls down. Turning around to return to the living room, blink in surprise at seeing that Trouble had followed you there. 

She looked… nervous. That, well, that was not unusual but not a common occurrence with you. You had been roommates for almost five years at this point and you considered her more like a sister than anything else. You knew that feeling was mutual so why was she looking nervous?

“Um, well, Y/N, can we talk for a minute? If it isn’t too late, that is. We can always talk later- I mean I don’t want-”

“Trouble, take a breath. It’s not like I am going anywhere. You can talk to me.”

“Yeaaaaaah, about that. You aren’t going anywhere but I - well, um - Sans and I - HEASKEDMETOMOVEINWITHHIMANDISAIDYES.”

Blinking, your tired brain tried to decipher what the rushed jumble of words meant.

“You are moving in with Sans?”

“Yes! It’s the next level of being datemates and since it has been almost a year since we started dating it seem fitting and please don’t be mad-”

Laughing, you step forward and pull your roommate into a hug which effectively cut off the sentence that was spiraling out of control. You were so proud of her for being willing to approach you about a potentially difficult topic without freaking out too much.

“Congrats!. That’s amazing news. I’ll miss you for sure but that’s what girls nights are for. When did he ask? How did he ask?”

A tint of humor entered your voice for the next question and you pulled back to look your roommate in the eye.

“How long were you both stammering around the topic?”

A squawk of protest came from her but you could see the smile be poorly hidden behind a look of exasperation. 

“We did NOT stammer around the topic! Not much, anyway. Sans asked me a couple of days ago when we had our anniversary dinner at Taco Loco.”

“They let you two back in after the ...interesting events of your six month anniversary?”

Blushing, Trouble buried her face in her hands at the memory of that date gone horribly wrong before looking up at you beseechingly.

“Maybe Sans had to apologize several times, pay for damages, and offer to bring Chara by for a few publicity meals but could they really blame us for just wanting to have dinner and getting attacked by anti-monster racists?”

Shaking your head no, you motion for her to continue, knowing that there had to be more to the story. Sans never did things in a half-assed manner after all. 

“Besides, he rented out the entire restaurant this time to prevent any complications… and maybe because he hired a mariachi band to play for us.”

Your roommate knew what was coming and braced herself. You couldn’t help the stunned laughter that spilled out of your lips at the thought of Sans, your roommate, and a bunch of fancily attired mariachi band members alone in the cheesy decorated but delicious restaurant. It was too priceless of a mental picture.

“Are you sure this wasn’t a proposal? Did Papyrus know? He should have warned me so we could see this in all its glory.”

“Why the heck would Sans share any of his date plans with Papyrus after what happened with the aquarium date? I didn’t even know you could train lobsters to hold up signs!”

A fresh peal of laughter sprang from both of you as the memories from the aquarium date resurfaced. It must have been only a month or two into Sans and Trouble dating when they had watched The Little Mermaid. Fascinated by all of the sea life depicted, Sans had asked your roommate on a date to the local aquarium. 

Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on the perspective - there had been a delay before the two lovebirds could go. By the time they went on the date a month later, well, Papyrus and you had been rather productive. The lobsters holding signs like “Kiss the girl”, “We got a hot crustacean band!”, and “You're not getting cold fins now, are you?” were the least of it. 

Laughter dying off, Trouble straightened up to continue the story.

“I thought it was a proposal at first. We had just finished eating when I looked up from my plate to see Sans standing up with his challenge face on. He strode over to my side of the table after sending the band away and pulled out a small black velvet box.Then, right before I started turning purple from not breathing in panic, Sans dared me to prove who the better housemate is and opened the box to reveal a house key!”

“Oh my god... He dared you to move in?”

This was fantastic - utterly fantastic. The dork had dared your roommate into moving in and it was hilariously fitting for the two of them.

“Basically! Of course I told Sans he would be left in the dust by my awesome datemate and roommate skills. We started bickering and next thing I know I’m slipping the key onto my keyring as we head back to his place to plan.”

“You do realize that Sans is going to have to challenge you to marry him, right?”

“Not if I challenge him first! Though… well, I don’t think either of us are ready for that yet. I mean, we’ve talked about it as well as the other big stuff like kids, finances, and goals for the future but…”

Concern slipped like a shadow of Trouble’s face causing you to wrap an arm around her shoulder. Even the best couples could have bouts of uncertainty or need to take the relationship slow and you knew that sometimes a reminder was needed. 

“Honestly, there is no rush for you two to do anything. Despite his outward cockiness, Sans is a sensitive monster and you are willing to speak your mind while still considering his feelings which is why you two are able to navigate this relationship at a pace that fits both of you.”

Brightening up, she quoted one of your favorite sayings from the clinic.

“Enjoy the journey, not just the destination. Right?”

“Exactly! Now, let’s go join the guys again before Papyrus provokes Sans into throwing our characters into a dragon-infested volcano or something.”

Arms now linked, the two of you wander back into the living room giggling at what mischief Papyrus could cause when left alone with a temperamental and clever DM. Half the Ultimate Snow Drake campaign had been because Papyrus’s character had annoyed an NPC so badly that he had gotten cursed and the only cure was in the drake’s lands.

The scene you returned to was thankfully normal by the group’s standards. The rest of the game pieces had been cleaned up and returned to the extremely organized case that Sans maintained (and guarded if you considered Papyrus’ penchant for pranks). Papyrus sat half-dozing while leaned up against the couch and Sans sat stiffly on the couch - eyelights locked on your face as if trying to tell how the announcement went.

You could have fun with this.

With a mischievous smile, you unlink your arm and sit down a smidgen too close to Sans for his normal comfort level which causes the skeleton to stiffen even more. A groan of exasperation rises up from behind and you can just picture your roommate clutching her forehead at the moment. One eye socket cracks open in Papyrus’s skull.

“So, I hear my darling - dearest - beloved - adorable roommate plans to move in with you, Sir Sans Serif, knight and captain of the guard. I have just one question for you.”

The dramatic pause you throw in is sweetly flavored with the anticipation that floods the room. Papyrus has opened his other eye socket and shifted to sit up straight. Trouble let out her famous tea-kettle sound. Sans gulped audibly.

“Do you realize that if you do not keep my precious sister-of-the-heart safe - emotionally and physically - I **will** feed you to the dogfish among many other extremely unpleasant experiences?”

Before Sans could reply, Papyrus piped up from his seat. The instinct to watch his brother’s back overrode all common sense including the bit to let you have your fun.

“Are dogfish real?”

“Yes, Papyrus, they are. Now let Sans reply or you’ll meet a dogfish yourself.”

“I’d rather meet a catfish. Heard they are the cat’s meow.”

Groaning, Sans sank back against the couch at the horrible joke. It was terrible even by Papyrus’ standards. Peppily, you decide this can be used as its own threat.

“I can also lock you in a room slowly filling with water and dogfish while a recording of Papyrus’ worst jokes play on repeat.”

A look of unabashed horror swept over Sans’ face and he sprang to his feet to grasp your hand tightly. 

“Nurse, I will never hurt Trouble or let anything even come close to harming her. If not just for my love of the woman then let it be for fear of that horrible fate.”

The fierceness of his statement made you chuckle. Nodding in agreement, you pull away and shift to be sitting cross legged on the floor. Seeing her chance, Trouble darted forward to sprawl across the whole couch. Sans was left standing for a moment before he dropped onto the couch on top of his datemate. 

“Whoa, save that for home. Leave room for Jes-”

A pillow flew from the couch glowing with red magic and smacked the taller skeleton on the face before he could continue with his current phrase. Another pillow followed but Papyrus had already teleported to behind the couch with the original cushion and dropped it on his brother’s face. Sensing a pillow war was about to break out, you spoke up.

“Yeah, no, stop that right now! No pillow fights in my living room. You could hit poor Cactus Joe!”

As if to emphasize your point, the poor cactus - which had never recovered from the dare-based date incident - mournfully dropped a few more needles onto the coffee table. The pillows were placed gently back onto the couch by two guilty looking skeletons and your equally guilty looking roommate. 

“Perhaps we should head for bed. It is pretty late…”

Nodding in agreement, Sans stood up and lifted Trouble into his arms. Early on in their relationship, Trouble would have protested the gesture - and you would not say it outloud - but she had become a bit spoiled by her beau and she now enjoyed the romantic gesture. 

“Ah - yes - we should. Goodnight, nurse.”

“I’ll be at Sans’ tonight, Y/N. We’ll be back tomorrow though to start packing.”

Smiling at their antics, you bid all three goodnight. Papyrus ‘ports away first with a lazy wave quickly followed by his brother snuggling Trouble even closer to his chest. The house was silent once more.

Preparing for bed, the silence starts to almost echo in your mind. Somehow, knowing that Trouble was moving out, the house seemed more empty even though she had spent other nights away. A chill runs down your spine and you stare into the mirror for a moment as the full implications of Trouble moving out started to dawn on you.

You’d be alone again in this house that was designed for a family down to the last stud. After all, your parents had built it as a wedding gift to each other. Having Trouble move in had brought a new sense of life back to the place after… the accident. You could always look for a new roommate but that would mean being willing to invest all the work into finding a stranger you matched well with and taking the risk that they weren’t a murder hobo in disguise. 

Shaking your head, you force yourself to stop thinking of all the ways this change could go wrong. One vigorous scrubbing of your teeth later, you exit the master bathroom and drop wearily into your bed. Tomorrow was a new day and it was closer than you liked so sleep needed to happen.

However, as you drifted off, a thought echoed through your mind.

_‘Would the house feel even emptier when all of your roommate's belongings were gone?’_

\-------------------------------------------------

_The next morning_

Sans was a lucky monster.

An extremely lucky monster.

An extremely extra lucky monster as you had already consumed one cup of coffee before he made the dubious choice to teleport into your kitchen. Despite the need to be up early to make it into the clinic before it opened at 8 AM you were NOT a morning person and it took two cups of coffee to become cheerful. One cup of coffee meant you were less likely to threaten anyone who came near but civility was a stretch. Especially given what he had caused to happen.

Your phone chimed thrice but you ignored it in favor of leveling a glare powered by exhaustion at the now cringing skeleton. Even the Great and Malevolent Sans felt his sins crawling down his back at the look in your eyes. The rolling mug on the floor doing laps in the steaming flood of coffee staining the kitchen tiles was the only sound in the house until you spoke in a low tone.

“I would have thought that your beloved lady would have warned you about what happens if someone interrupts my morning routine. Pity you didn’t heed the warning.”

Sans flinched at the last sentence but then straightened up and tried to look dignified. He mostly succeeded but you could still see little red drops of sweat sliding down his skull. 

Good. 

Anyone who dared cost you the blessed second cup of coffee was in for a bad time until your good nature fully woke up.

“I was warned but this is about a matter of utmost importa-”

“Clean up the coffee and wash that mug before you continue, Serif. Then you can tell me exactly why you had to ‘port into my kitchen during the sacred time of coffee. Am I understood?”

Flinching at the use of his last name - he knew it meant you were one pissed off lady - the beads of sweat running down his skull grew larger.

“Yes, ma’am”

To your morbid amusement, Sans saluted you instinctively before diving for the paper towels across the kitchen. Grabbing your phone, you snap a quick flurry of pictures of him cleaning up the spilled coffee before checking the messages that had come in.

**_Trouble:_ ** _PLEASE DO NOT KILL MY DATEMATE!!!_

**_Trouble:_ ** _I will buy you a hoard of cacti if that means you’ll leave him in one piece._

**_Trouble:_ ** _And chocolate! I will get you chocolate!_

**_You:_ ** _[Images Sent]_

**_You:_ ** _He. Made. Me. Spill. My. coffee._

**_Trouble:_ ** _OH SHIT_

A stifled cough brought your eye up from the phone screen to where Sans stood at attention in front of your seat at the kitchen table. Glancing at the clock, you sighed. It was ten minutes until you had to head out the door to work and there was no chance you could wrap whatever this was up with Sans and make another cup of coffee in time. Shitty clinic coffee would have to tide you over today. 

“Alright, Sans, what is going on? You have ten minutes before I need to leave for work so talk fast.”

“Fine, Nurse, I will come straight to the point. I want you to let Papyrus move in and become your new roommate.”

Blinking in surprise, you look at Sans in confusion.

“Why isn’t Papyrus asking me this himself? Is he even interested in living here?”

Narrowing your eyes, you shoot Sans a stern glance.

“Are you trying to manage your brother’s life again?”

At your words, the short skeleton flinched and a guilty flush flooded his face. 

Bingo.

“Sans, you have to let Papyrus live his own life. I thought we had worked past this.”

“I… I don’t know if Papy can - if I can... handle him living alone. We’ve never lived separately before.”

Growling in frustration, Sans began to pace the length and width of the kitchen. His polished shoes rapidly tapped as his pent up emotions sped up his steps.

“Since we broke the news about Trouble moving in, he’s been looking for a new place and nothing is suitable! NOTHING! One landlord wants extra fees because Papy is a monster. Another has a clause that he can’t even rent without a human co-signer. The third we checked has an illegal sign saying ‘No Monsters’. These aren’t even _cheap_ apartments!”

Anger over the spilled coffee forgotten, you look at the pacing skeleton in front of you with sympathy. The monsters may not be trapped underground any longer but life on the surface is not always kind. 

“What if Papy gets dusted because he’s living in some shady building where no one cares just because he thinks my love and I need privacy? Why is he even looking for a new place anyway? I didn’t think he would want to move out. Trouble is over most of the time anyway if we are not all here.”

“Sans, I am sure Papyrus is trying to be a good brother by giving you space to properly set up a home with your datemate and maybe he wants to spread his wings a bit too. You won’t know until you talk with him. Which you should, like now. Don’t just start making choices for him.”

Deflating slightly, the anxious skeleton sank into a kitchen chair opposite from you and glared at his hands before dropping them in frustration on the table top..

“I just want him to be happy after all that I put him through. I want to make my datemate happy too. Sometimes it feels like I have to choose one or the other even though logically that is not true.”

“Let me give you a bit of advice, Sans. Your love for Trouble is completely different from your love for Papyrus but that doesn’t mean that they are unequal. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. That also means that the way you make each of them happy is going to be completely different. One you need to draw closer and one you need to allow to have space, that’s all.”

Reaching a hand out, you place yours on top of San’s cool smooth phalanges which causes him to meet your eyes, red eyelights filled with familiar guilt. 

“Most of all, you need to keep working on forgiving yourself and doing what makes you happy. Papyrus is not resentful towards you any more and he wants your happiness.” 

Knowing how much physical contact meant to the touch-starved skeleton, you gently squeeze his hand in reassurance before removing it with a kind smile.

“Chances are that this massive change will tempt both of you back towards more unhealthy habits of coping but I believe in you two. Talk to your brother and tell him exactly what you have told me.”

Tearing up slightly, Sans looked roughly away for a moment and huffed slightly before turning back with a grateful smile. 

“Thank you, Nurse.”

About to reply and tease the emotional skeleton a bit, you were interrupted by a knock at the back door which conveniently was attached to the kitchen. Standing up in puzzlement, you stride over to peer around the curtain covering the window in the door before rapidly swinging it open.

Out on the back porch stood Papyrus holding a large thermos and looking slightly apprehensive but there was a mischievous gleam in his eye sockets. Before you could say a word, he sunk to his knees and began to speak in a melodramatic fashion while raising the thermos above his head. 

“Please, oh great healer, spare my idiot brother’s life in exchange for this offering of homemade hand roasted premium coffee made just the way you like it. I beseech you, oh glorious beautiful powerful goddess.”

A startled burst of laughter sprang out of you before you schooled your face back into an impressively stern expression - with only a hint of mischief of your own - and replied in kind.

“What, you take me for a fool? A single thermos of coffee is not an equivalent exchange for thy brother's life. Take offense, I do!”

Valiantly trying to hide a smile, Papyrus cocked his head thinking for a moment and then brightened up.

“How about this thermos of coffee and a promise of bringing over Chinese carry out for dinner tonight?”

Trying to and failing at hiding your own smile, you gesture for Papyrus to come on in before grabbing the thermos out of his hands.

“Acceptable. Come in, peasant.”

Popping up, the skeleton did just that. He waltzed over to Sans and flopped dramatically over his brother. 

“Oh brother dearest, you live! My soul is faint with relief. Hold me!”

“Get off! You’re squishing me!”

Sans tried to remove his brother but it was like Papyrus had taken lessons from cats. Every time Sans successfully shifted one part of him away, Papyrus just slumped over another arm, shoulder, leg, - whatever he could reach while laughing and making dramatic swooning sounds.

You can’t help but laugh at the scene with the precious thermos of coffee - glorious, glorious, coffee - clutched to your chest. One last check of the clock showed that you needed to leave NOW to reach work on time. Slipping your shoes on and grabbing your purse which hung by the door, you ran out while calling one last set of instructions behind you.

“You two better talk this out so Sans stops fretting. Lock up when you are done.”

It was a few minutes later as you pulled onto the freeway that you had a moment to pop the lid of the thermos open and take a cautious sip from it. What came forth was liquid gold in caffeine form and you had to resist letting out a small moan. If Papyrus could make coffee that tastes like this, maybe you would let him move in. 

You could use a personal barista. 

\---------------------------------------

_Late evening of the same day_

The sun had already set by the time your car pulled back into the driveway. Exhausted, you slumped against the steering wheel for a moment as your mind revolted against the thought of getting out of the air conditioned car to struggle through the still-muggy summer air. 

Idly, you noticed that more lights than normal were shining from the upstairs of your house. Perhaps Sans and Trouble were already starting to pack up the book horde? Responsibility tugged at your heart and with a sigh you were exiting the car. You had promised to help your soon-to-be-ex roommate pack after all.

Maybe you could get a bite or two of the Chinese food first before getting dragged into packing chaos.

Entering the kitchen, you see a few boxes piled here and there. Some were empty and some were sealed shut with tape and marked with a general contents overview. Personally, you found the box marked as “Fluffy winter blankets - PAPYRUS, DO NOT INTERACT” hilarious and possibly a bit overboard. 

After all, he hadn’t gone sneaking off with the fluffiest blankets since you had started gifting him with impossibly fuzzy ones for every holiday. 

Gazing around the kitchen, your features fall as you realize that you cannot see any Chinese carryout containers lurking on the counter. You even peer into the fridge only to see the same contents as this morning which were decidedly not crispy pineapple chicken with fried rice and a side of pork lo mien. 

A crash from upstairs breaks into your mournful fridge staring and you quickly close the fridge door before sprinting towards the hallway. Seconds after you reach the doorway into the hall, a call of “I’m okay!” from Trouble rings from above. However, you do not hear it as your mind fizzles while staring down the horror in front of you.

Spilling into the hallway from the living room is the largest pile of cardboard boxes that you have ever seen. Large boxes, small boxes, ones the size of a kitchen appliance - it was as if the back room of a big box store had puked out its cardboard guts all the way up to the top of the room. How had they even assembled this many boxes in a day?

“Ze Box Mountain will claim ze now!” 

The suddenness of Papyrus’ voice - in a horrible fake french accent of all things - startles you into swinging around to face him but your fuzzy socks on the hardwood floor led to more of a fall than a turn. Well, they should have led to a fall but a set of long arms wrap around your waist and the familiar dizzy sensation of teleportation occurred instead. 

If you had thought that the outside of “Box Mountain” was scarily impressive, the inside was just plain impressive as you could now see that the boxes had been placed to form a cozy chamber like an igloo in shape. Strings of skull lights hung between the upper levels of boxes and illuminated the inside of the mountain in a festive Halloween-y vibe. A gentle breeze flowed through the boxes along with a familiar low hum from what sounded like your old box fan. Spare pillows and blankets were piles haphazardly around the rest of the space.

_‘Did Papyrus raid the attic? I haven’t seen those lights since Halloween…’_

Your coffee table was in the center of the open space covered in a dark cloth and set with large cushions along one side for seating. Papyrus’s slightly battered but much loved laptop sat opposite of the cushions with Hulu pulled up on the screen. Steaming containers of Chinese food and utensils topped off the enticing picture with Cactus Joe standing guard off to the side. 

Before you could question the creativity and slightly extravagant nature of the setup you are released from Papyrus’ grip and spun around to face a huge banner.

It read ‘ _Society For Hiding From Sans’ Packing Rampage_ ’ in large hand drawn letters. 

“Dude, is he that bad?”

With a shudder, Papyrus pulled a plush body pillow to his chest from a nearby stack and stared off into the distance in remembered horror as his eyelights vanished briefly from his skull.

“Darlin’, you have no idea. He LAUGHED when he saw Trouble’s humongous book collection. LAUGHED!”

“Let me guess, he claimed to be able to pack it up in a day and Trouble said prove it?”

“She triple dog dared him! They’ve been packing for several hours now. I got put in charge of box assembly.”

“They didn’t mention how they wanted the boxes assembled, did they?”

All you got back in response was a mischievous grin as Papyrus shook his head. Spying your usual, you move forward to sink onto the cushion in front of it and break open a pair of disposable chopsticks. Sinking down next to you, Papyrus broke open something spicy with noodles. Suddenly the purpose of the box fan made sense as it blew the eye-watering spice-laden steam away from your face instead of into it. 

“Not that I don’t love the setup and having our own secret club, but why the fuss?”

“Can’t a skeli-friend make a deluxe box fort for no reason?”

The extremely pointed look you sent his way increased the shifty expression on Papyrus’s face before he slumped back with a melodramatic sigh.

“Alright, ya got me, nurse. I might be trying to butter ya up to ask a favor. You might even get **_egg_ ** cited if you **_roll_ ** your eyes to the corner of the table.” 

Spying the pack of egg rolls specifically marked with your name, you smirk and snatch up the treat before looking back at Papyrus. He fidgeted with his own pair of chopsticks for a moment before meeting your eyes.

“I want to move in with ya.”

You had always told Papyrus that he needed to be direct when dealing with issues instead of ignoring them and he was following through on those instructions. However, you could see that the directness was setting him on edge and so you respond in a teasing tone. Why be sentimental when you can be funny instead?

“Why Papyrus, are you propositioning me? You did buy me dinner~”

“Hun, I ain’t that desperate.” 

There was a beat of silence before both of you broke down into giggles and the atmosphere relaxed. Your friend looked at you with a sideways grin before continuing. 

“Well, maybe I am. I don’t want to be a living relationship-block to Trouble and my bro but the rental market sucks. My bro probably told you about the… restrictions of the pads I’ve looked at.”

“He did. Those landlords are assholes.”

Huffing with righteous anger which was reflected in your tone, you make a mental note to get the names of the different landlords and pass them onto Grillby. That money-loving flame may be willing to separate patrons from their money in as many ways as possible but even he had standards and he would enjoy going after any legal case he could get money or influence from. 

Papyrus looks at you with an unusually soft affectionate look to his eyelights as he continues. It made something inside your chest fizz a bit but you didn’t know why. Were you having heartburn already? 

“But you aren’t. You’ll hold me accountable but not be a jackass about it.”

Twisting his half-smile into a smirk, Papyrus continued while changing his voice to be full of faux suaveness. Thank the stars he followed the same policy of humor before sappiness. 

“I also promise I will make a very good house pet.”

Choking on a bite of chicken at the ridiculousness of his statement, you cough for a minute before shoving him with one hand playfully. Snickering, the skeleton finally took a bite of his own food while dodging another playful shove.

“Not my kink, Pap, not my kink. However, if you are willing to brew coffee every morning…”

“Liked the free sample?”

“Well, it was worth your brother’s life - almost!”

Grinning at the praise, Papyrus took another bite and you used the fact that his mouth was full to continue on. 

“I’ll take you as my roommate. We’ll work out the rent another night once Trouble is fully out. That way I can calculate the pro-rated amount since of course Trouble moves out in the middle of the month. However, I do want to set some ground rules for both of us.”

You start to list off the same ground rules that you had come up with when Trouble had first moved in. They were more common courtesies than strict law but spelling them out saved so much confusion and conflict. 

“One, we don’t go into each other’s rooms without express permission each time unless there is an emergency.

Two, if you break it, you have to fix or replace it. This goes for the house, housewares, or any of our belongings. 

Three, no guests over without notifying the other via text and getting agreement. Especially no overnight guests of a certain persuasion. I do not want to get up in the morning and find a half-naked stranger in my kitchen between the coffee machine and I.”

At the last rule, Papyrus laughed so hard that he snorted out half the drink he had been taking and you hadn’t even known that was possible with skeleton monsters!

“Oh my stars, Nurse, I promise you that will not be a thing that happens. After all, I can’t afford the therapy for the poor soul traumatized by seeing you before coffee.”

A sharp jab of your elbow did not stop the stream of giggles escaping the skeleton and he continued to giggle. You sat there giving him a sideways stink eye while biting into an egg roll. Eventually he stopped giggling but by then you were on your second egg roll. 

“Like I said, Nurse, ya have nothing to worry about. Haven’t given into the urge to find a one night stand since I got sober and it’s not like I am in the dating game.”

You frown slightly. Newly recovering addicts were not encouraged to start relationships until past the one year anniversary mark but Papyrus had been clean for almost five years now. 

“Have you been resisting dating because of your past? You’ve been able to stay clean for several years now and you deserve to find a datemate like Sans has.”

A tangerine glow lightly swept across Papyrus’ skull as he bashfully ducked his head and shrugged. While humility might be considered a good quality in most, you know Papyrus was prone to taking it straight into the self-deprecation zone. You reach over and give his hand a gentle squeeze which causes the tall skeleton to meet your eyes again before rumbling an answer.

“Don’t know about that, Nurse, but I don’t feel the need to escape reality that way anymore. I’m content. More content that I have been in a long time. In no rush to change that.” 

A small part of your heart twinged as you took a moment to thread supportive words together but you weren’t sure why. It was probably the part of you that doesn’t like change. Stars know there was enough of that going on and Papyrus dating would be another huge one. However, Papyrus is a dear friend and you are determined to show him support no matter what. 

“I can respect that. Heck, you know I’m as single as a pringle due to my job. Just know that I am here for you and if/when you feel like entering the dating pool we’ll all be supportive. I’ll even be so generous as to refrain from assisting your brother in revenge dating pranking for one whole date!” 

At that Papyrus laughed so hard he snorted which broke your serious & supportive expression and once again you both dissolved into a pile of laughter. Leaning against each other - sides still heaving from laughter - the twinge in your heart fades. As long as you can keep laughing together like this all would be fine.

“Now that ya know my secret reason for the deluxe fort, let’s eat and get to seeing what weirdness they throw on the models this time for Project Runway. May the Angel help them have straight hemlines for once!”

You brighten up for a second before deflating slightly. An evening of judging the competitors on the ridiculousness of fashion while gobbling Chinese food was a perfect way to end the week but responsibility tugged at your heart.

“What about helping Sans and Trouble? I did promise….”

“Listen for a moment. Do ya hear anything?”

“No… That’s not good, is it?”

Frowning slightly, you shift to rise to your feet but Papyrus lays a restraining hand on your shoulder while emphatically shaking his head. You sink back into the pillows and look at him curiously. The tangerine blush was dancing across his skull again. 

“Eh, either Trouble has successfully distracted my bro by reading favorite passages of the books they are supposed to be packing in a lovely romantic moment of datemate-ness or their passion for beating the other at packing got too passionate… I’m not interrupting in either scenario. Ain’t enough eye bleach in the world to risk it.”

Blushing yourself, you start giggling. Seems like you weren’t the only one having to call out a warning when you got home.

“Pfft, is that one of the reasons you are so keen to move out? You’ve been having close calls of the ‘oh-god-I-do-not-need-to-see-that’ kind too?”

“It’s a healthy adult datemate relationship but I thank the stars that I can teleport instantaneously. Ya understand that the probability for cringe moments goes down the sooner Trouble and I are swapped as housemates.”

Still chuckling, you pick up your chopsticks and go to take a bite of your chicken before pausing and looking at Papyrus with a gleam in your eyes. 

“One more thing though, oh future roomie. You need to come up with a new nickname for me. It’d be nice to be called something else besides ‘Nurse’, especially since we’ll be living together. Got to level up our friendship stats!”

A faint look of shock rolled through the skeleton’s skull but his usual half smile returned within a few seconds. Even faster was the sarcastic quip that sprung forth. 

“Do I need to roll for persuasion each time I test a new nickname out?”

At that you simply stick your tongue out while giggling and reach over to the laptop to hit ‘Play’. Nicknames were serious business to monsters and those in their communities. A spark of anticipation flooded through your system. After all, despite his easy going and lazy nature Papyrus was an extremely smart monster.

How bad could this go?


	2. Author's Note

Hey Folks!

I am not dead in a ditch somewhere! I still love this fic and I will return to it. What has happened is that I have been having an extremely hard time dealing with the world (I'm a bisexual female living in the USA...) and most of my creativity has died off due to stress. Until now, that is! I love the weird and spooky. So when I found out WeirdTober is a thing and started reading some of the fics, I finally got inspired again. So I am working hard to get back into the groove of writing by participating this year in the Undertale fandom. My hope is that this will lead to me being able to take the momentum from WeirdTober and send it back towards these fics I have already started. 

Thanks for reading! I love you all!

Sincerely,

Serenity

PS: My tumblr is serenity223neko if you want to drop by and say hello. I re-blog a lot of random stuff from multiple fandoms & cat pictures & basically anything I find interesting. Who knows, maybe you will find something you like. :) 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this! :D I hope you are excited to see what happens next!


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